Aura On Lamar Apartments Head for North Loop’s ‘Friendly Whale’

Hey, remember the weird chunk of land at the southeast corner of North Lamar Boulevard and West Koenig Lane we decided was shaped kinda like a whale? This guy:

If we’re comparing this piece of land to a whale, you can bet your ass it’s a friendly one. Just look at him! Image: Google Maps

The quirky and currently quite empty 3.4-acre tract at 5629 North Lamar Boulevard, purchased from the State of Texas last year for an undisclosed sum by Dallas-based multifamily developer Trinsic Residential Group, will soon host Aura On Lamar, a five-story, 279-unit apartment community. Thar she blows!

We’re having a whale of a time!

Trinsic’s built plenty of apartments under the Aura brand around the country, with a few in various stages of realization elsewhere in Austin, but this one might be the developer’s most interesting. It isn’t tremendously different from other midrise multifamily developments going up around town, but the strange shape of the land itself influences the building’s design as it follows the arc of West Koenig Lane — resulting in an unusually curvy final product, at least on the northern side:

Image: Trinsic Residential Group / GFF Architects

That’s pretty whale-like, isn’t it? From the perspective of the rendering above, we’re looking south towards the building across West Koenig Lane. Here’s a street view from roughly the same position — as you can see, the project will completely transform the immediate area, which hasn’t seen much growth of this kind until recently:

Unlike some development in this part of town, the Aura On Lamar community will contain more than apartments — relatively recent plans indicate roughly 2,500 square feet of retail and another 3,000 square feet or so of restaurant space, both found on the ground floor facing North Lamar Boulevard on the building’s western frontage.

A site plan providing an overhead view of the Aura On Lamar project shows how the building follows its curved property lines along the roads around it. Click for a larger view. Image: KBGE

Reminiscent of last week’s East Austin office building braving the squeeze created by a curving rail line, the Aura development is arguably a lot more interesting owing to its constraints, and it’s certainly a clever way to utilize a scrap of land most people wouldn’t consider particularly suitable for a project of this size.

Though its developers couldn’t provide a comment on the current timeline for construction, the community’s own website lists an opening date of January 2021 — and we really, really want everyone to start calling it the “Whale Building.”